Dimensional Keeper: All My Skills Are at Level 100 Chapter 1437 Isabella's Speed!

Max observed her with steady composure, detecting the alteration in her determination.

"Should you outpace me in this challenge," she pressed on, her eyes fixed firmly, "I will serve as your maid for a decade. Should you falter and I overtake you, you will act as my servant for ten years. What say you?"

A short hush enveloped them.

Carl's eyes bulged in astonishment. Laura drew in a quick breath, her poise cracking for the initial time on this path. They recognized Isabella Lumin as the budding Saintess, an exalted and aloof presence. Hearing her suggest such drastic stakes exceeded all their anticipations.

Max found himself briefly taken aback.

He hadn't foreseen this intensification. Betting resources across halls was one thing. A private gamble of bondage between pupils, particularly with the trainee Saintess, stood as altogether another.

But the surprise in him faded swiftly.

Instead, a slight, understated grin formed on his mouth.

He had pondered ways to probe the enigma of her Imperial Bloodline absent force or pressure. The craving in his bloodline lingered, merely hushed into waiting calm. Closeness, chance, and duration were essential to grasp the harmony linking them.

And here she presented a decade of nearness from her very mouth.

Provided she lost.

A maid for ten years.

The twist entertained him.

"These terms in the bet are quite intense," Max remarked deliberately, seeming to weigh them thoughtfully. Then his smile broadened. "Yet I agree."

Carl and Laura gaped at him in shock.

"What I truly need at present," Max appended casually, "is a maid. Gaining such a lovely woman to attend me for ten years would make me lucky indeed. In this light, I have no cause to decline."

His statement played lighthearted outwardly, but a keen edge lurked below.

Carl's thoughts whirled. Laura viewed Max like a stranger. In their eyes, Max always appeared detached from such issues, devoted solely to cultivation and progress.

Entering a stake tied to ego and supremacy felt out of character for him.

Isabella saw no jest in it, though.

A vibrant chuckle burst from her.

"Excellent," she declared assuredly. "Let the race begin."

With no further speech, she spun around.

Boom.

Blazes under her soles burst forth as she sped up. Her form turned into a flash of glowing radiance, darting beyond the first pillar's edge into the second.

One thousand one hundred miles.

One thousand two hundred miles.

One thousand four hundred miles.

One thousand six hundred miles.

Her silhouette pressed on at remarkable velocity in the second section. The fires burned fiercer and wilder than before, but they barely impeded her. The latent power of her Imperial Bloodline stirred softly in her blood, quelling parts of the ambient force.

One thousand seven hundred miles.

One thousand eight hundred miles.

One thousand nine hundred miles.

With one last surge, she breached the third pillar.

The hovering displays overhead tracked her movement, sparking whispers from watchers throughout the dome.

She didn't halt right away in the third section. The blazes there held stronger ruinous will, woven with profound idea-based strain. Still, she drove on, her presence steadying the rush.

Her speed dropped only at the third pillar's halfway mark.

Two thousand five hundred miles.

There, the surrounding flames gathered into denser flows, and fire creatures emerged in larger groups. Her progress shifted to careful steps over bursts.

Nevertheless, her showing remained exceptional.

By then, Zain Heron had entered the fourth pillar, pushing his unyielding climb.

Behind, the distance grew.

Meanwhile, Max lingered at the second pillar's threshold, observing serenely as the trainee Saintess charged ahead with fiery resolve.

"Max, you need to move faster," Carl urged nervously, his gaze darting from Max to the screens floating high. Isabella's shape had become a far-off blur in the third pillar, and the separation seemed to expand with every second. "She's going to pull way ahead at this rate."

Laura agreed with a nod nearby, her face strained. She couldn't fathom why Max took on such a gamble, one demanding a full ten years of service.

Yet any uncertainties she held stayed unspoken. Max was their ally. From the Thirty Third Hall, and crucially, Elder Virelila's personal disciple. That sufficed for her full support without question.

They both sensed the mounting strain at the second pillar's brink, but their focus stayed on Max's unmoving stance.

He seemed utterly relaxed, in contrast.

"No rush is required," Max replied with a soft smile, eyes still on the remote image of Isabella's push. "This isn't really a sprint."

Carl scowled. "How can you say it's not a race? She's in the third layer already and gaining ground."

Max turned his focus to them at last.

"This trial lacks a deadline," he clarified evenly. "The Path to Eternal Flames values not just pace. It prizes penetration. Her hitting her boundary fast or slow makes no difference. The key is the ultimate reach of that boundary."

His tone stayed even, devoid of haste.

"If she burns out in the third or fourth pillar from hasty charges, while I delve further with steady command, victory is mine. This bet concerns not quicker steps. It concerns the final standing point."

Carl's worried look eased a bit as he absorbed the explanation.

Laura breathed out softly. "You're aiming to preserve energy and proceed methodically, then."

Max gave a subtle nod.

"The inner sections will grow more brutal," he went on. "Since the first pillar holds flame ideas up to the fifth degree, the fifth and later won't just test stamina. They'll probe insight and base. Charging blind to the fire's makeup would be unwise."

He looked skyward again.

Isabella's swift rise impressed, but Max remained unmoved.

"I just have to go beyond her," Max murmured finally. "Her leading now alters nothing."

Carl and Laura shared a look and let out sighs.